Hi, not certain if anyone is going to read this or if you would like to continue the arguments. But, the interaction here has been interesting to watch.
Shard of the Dead is an old play area that we resurrected for Halloween. The gameplay is experimental. This is not an intro to a Classic Server.
Recently, someone asked when Test Centers were going to be fun again. So we put Shard of the Dead together for Halloween.
The ideas come from a few styles that devs have played with over the years. We intend to change the play over time. The good thing about the shard is we can change anything anytime until we find the right mix of ideas.
We may try color wars again ... or a few other things.
We are leaving it up to watch what happens, and to add and take away things.
A warning: don't believe anything but the publish notes. The Shard of the Dead is nothing more than what the pub notes say.
Yes, Curse.com got a sneak peek. He actually added some ideas, and he did it constructively.
Again Shard of the Dead is a play area and not intended to be anything more than that.
We have not had a place to just try out things in a while.